Based on The Empty World by Foone
Monday, May 6, 2143
My world machine is nearly complete! I should be able to test it out tomorrow, and then a centuries-old physics problem, which people used to think was unsolvable, will be solved!
In preparation for the big day, I have told my phone to generate 50 random numbers using a quantum source of randomness. I then saved the numbers and printed out a copy, and placed the printed-out copy on my desk. If Many Worlds is correct, each time I generated a number, the universe will have split into multiple universes, and if my world machine works as expected, I should be able to travel to another of these universes. If I see a different list of numbers on the table, that means that all of this worked!
Tuesday, May 7, 2143
The big day! Before leaving, I double-checked that the numbers on my phone matched the paper on my desk, and, as expected, they did. Then I went into the world machine, closed the door, pressed the "Go" button, and heard a satisfying "whirr" sound. I opened the door, and went to my desk, and… nothing! The paper wasn't there!
After that I looked around me and noticed some other strange things. There was no one in the lab, and the lights were off, even though it was a Tuesday. Outside the window, the sky was a pale gray, even though it was sunny when we left (are there quantum weather effects?), but stranger than that, there was ash falling down outside. It was also a bit cold inside, though that could be explained by the weather and the heating in the building being off. There was also no traffic on the street, even though it's usually a busy street, although there were still cars parked along the side.
I assume that, by some fluke, I ended up in a world in which some natural disaster had taken place, or maybe there had been a disaster at a nuclear or gluonic power plant, which would be odd given that this city runs entirely on solar and hydro. I tried turning on the deskphone in the lab, hoping a news app would have some information, but it would not turn on, even though it was plugged in, so the power must have been out. The phone I brought with me still worked, but I couldn't get a signal from any cell company or wifi network. I couldn't even get a sat signal, so whatever had happened must have either been far bigger than this city or else completely blocked the signal.
I looked at my notebook in that universe, and the last entry was dated April 18 of this year. At the time, I thought it looked the same as the notebook in this world, although after rereading the entry in this world's notebook, I realized the last couple sentences were worded slightly differently, and the alternate version used sloppier handwriting.
I went back into the machine and pressed "Go home", and after that everything was normal. I checked the numbers on my phone to the numbers on the table, and everything matched perfectly, so at least going home works.
I cannot completely rule out that my machine somehow destroyed the alternate universe, though given whatever happened appears to have happened more than two weeks ago, and that going home didn't seem to cause any issues, I consider that unlikely.
Wednesday, May 8, 2143
I tweaked the distance parameter to try to get closer to home, and tried again. However, this time when I opened the door, the air was super hot and glowing red-orange. I immediately closed the door again and went back home, but in the split-second the door was open, some glowing debris flew into the machine. I have sent a sample of the debris to the chemistry department for analysis, though they said it might be a few days, since they have other experiments in progress.
This is a troubling discovery. Are there frequent natural disasters in alternate worlds? Did I end up in a world unrelated to our own this time? Or was it just bad luck?
In any case, I will need to add some sensors to the outside of the machine to tell me if the world I land in has habitable temperature, breathable air, lack of harmful radiation, etc.
Thursday, May 9, 2143
I have made progress on the sensors, but they're not quite done yet.
Friday, May 10, 2143
The sensors are finished, and I tried the machine again. The first two worlds I landed in were extremely hot, so I didn't open the door to the machine. The third seemed normal, so I got out. It looked the same as the first world I got to, with the building empty and ash raining down, but this time the list of numbers was on the table, and it was different starting at the 26th number, so this must be a different world. Oddly, it still felt colder than normal, even though the thermometer on the world machine said it was exactly room temperature.
Also, the notebook was on my table and open. The last entry was May 8, and instead of saying that I needed to add sensors to the machine, it said, in somewhat sloppy handwriting, "I think that did something to me, because I feel strange. I probably just need to get some fresh air." There was nothing written after that.
I have taken the paper and the notebook back to my world for further analysis. The paper and notebook that were already in my world were unaffected, i.e., I ended up with two pieces of paper with random numbers and two notebooks. This seems like it could be used to duplicate valuable items, if it could be done safely. That said, I do not encourage anyone to do that yet, until we've figured out what's going on.
Monday, May 13, 2143
The chemistry lab has come back with their analysis. They said the debris seem to have the same chemical composition as ordinary wood, but somehow ignites at a much lower temperature.
I tore off a piece of the paper from the world I visited on May 10 and gave that to them for analysis. They said that it seems to have the same chemical composition as ordinary paper, but it does not seem to burn at all, at least at the temperatures that they tried.
I wonder if I've found a way to travel to worlds with different universal constants. Some of my colleagues were participating in Dr. Onistu's research project testing for small fluctuations in the universal constants, so we have equipment that could test that. I explained my hypothesis and asked if I could borrow their equipment for the day, and they said yes.
If this is true, then it could explain why there were no people in the world I visited: the constants have to be in an extremely narrow range to support human life. But if that's true, then there's a huge unanswered question: Where did the lab come from?
Tuesday, May 14, 2143
I have visited another cold, empty, ashen world. I have noticed three things about this world that seem important:
- The Onistu parameter of the electron, which affects its mass among other things, is 1.54 × 10-9 times higher than the currently-accepted value in the revised standard model, which is 1000 times larger than the fluctuations that have so far been observed.
- The Onistu parameter is increasing many times faster than has ever been observed. The range of the parameter I've observed is during the time I was there is larger than the range that has been observed at home.
- In my notebook entry for May 13, I had written that my colleagues would not let me borrow their equipment, saying that it seemed to not be working properly, giving odd results outside the normal range.
From this information, I now suspect that the worlds I visited are branches off of our world in which physical constants have changed enough that human life is no longer possible. The worlds I visited previously must be different branches where the same thing has happened.
This also suggests an answer to the question of why the fluctuations of the constants are restricted to the range they are. They actually aren't restricted; it's just that only timelines where they've stayed in an extremely narrow range that have scientists to observe them. If that's the case, this must be happening frequently, especially given that I haven't yet landed in a normal world.
I still have a lot of work to do before I can be sure of this conclusion, however, and there are still plenty of unanswered questions left, like where the ash came from, and where the bodies are.
Wednesday, May 15, 2143
I just got to work today, and I'm writing this early, because I have noticed that the Onistu parameter in my own universe is higher than it should be. I'm currently feeling slightly lightheaded. I feel like I want to stop what I'm doing and get some fresh air, though if I'm correct about all of this, that's not going to help. I'm staying here recording my observations, in hopes that an alternate version of me sees this.
If I'm correct about all of this, I'm going to die soon, as are all of my colleagues and loved ones, and everyone else. Though I don't remember it, I must have experienced this countless times throughout my life. That is, at least, some reassurance to me, reassurance that those other versions of me didn't have. I have experienced this before and some version of me has survived, so some version of me will survive this time as well.
It seems darker in here now. Maybe quieter. My heart is beating faster.
At the same time, this means that everyone in the whole world has experienced whatever I'm about to experience many, many times, possibly every second of every day, without knowing that. Kids who were already alone and scared for more mundane reasons have experienced this countless times. So have people in pre-quantum eras, who had never even heard of Many Worlds. There have been people experiencing this while at their wedding, or just after getting hired at their dream job, looking forward to a bright future. There have been…
I don't know. It feels harder to think now. Heart, anxiety.
Everyone has experienced death not just once but countless times. Everyone has died young countless times.
I'm more lightheaded. My vision is going dark. I'm gasping for air, cant breathe feeel lik
[The notebook is open to this page and covered in ash. It was never found.]